Bronx Workplace Shooting Leaves 1 Dead, 2 Wounded

Suspect Surrenders To Bronx D.A.

August 30, 2007
One person was killed and two others injured after a man entered his former workplace in the Bronx and began opening fire on employees in an apparent case of revenge.

Police said that Paulino Valenzuela, 50, walked into the RiverBay Corporation in Co-Op City, a Bronx housing complex, about 8 a.m. and killed his ex-supervisor, identified as 59-year-old Audley Bent. They allege he then shot and wounded two other workers, one critically, before turning himself in.

RiverBay employee Philip Zardirima says he stared death in the face. "I'm happy to be alive. The guy ran out of bullets. All I kept hearing is 'click, click,'" he says

At Bent's Queens home, his son expressed his shock and anguish over what happened. "She's taking it bad -- my mother is taking it bad," he said "How could they let a guy like that in the building?".

Sources says Valenzuela worked as a porter at RiverBay Corporation, starting in 1994, until he was fired in 2005

While investigators and residents hovered near the crime scene, police say the shooter went to the Bronx Criminal Court and turned himself in. He's now been charged with murder.

Court documents obtained by show Valenzuela had a history of violence at his workplace, even getting fired in 2000 for threatening a co-worker. He was reinstated after his union filed a grievance.

In 2001, he was suspended for two weeks after drinking beer on the job. Then in 2004, he was again suspended for two days after using foul language and threatening a co-worker again.

Finally in 2005, he was fired for good after a worker complained Valenzuela elbowed him in the jaw.

Valenzuela filed a lawsuit against RiverBay, saying that management discriminated against him because of his Hispanic race and because of an injury he suffered in 2002 that left him with limited hearing and vision.

Judge Denis Cote of the United States District Court Southern District ruled against Valenzuela in a final decision that was officially filed.

RiverBay’s management, and Bent in particular, “hate the Latinos” on the work force, Valenzuela said in a statement while representing himself in court. “They always look at me with bad eyes.”

Built in the late 1960s on the site of a former amusement park, Co-op City is a sprawling collection of 15,372 apartments in 35 high-rises and seven town house clusters. It has its own security force and power plant.

Edited by CCTIMES — Sep 05 2007 at 4:51pm